The big idea: how to use your senses to help beat depression
1 October 2024
This is an article by two of my heroes…..
Norman Farb is a neuroscientist with a focus on interoception and Zindel Segal is a clinical psychologist who co-created the MBCT program. They are speaking about the power of being able to abide in our five senses as a basic need for health and well-being.
Have a read and be inspired to drop in to simple aliveness and presence in your day.
Our research suggests that it’s not sadness per se that leads to poor mental health, but shutting down input from the body. ‘Sense foraging’ offers a way out of the trap.“
Norman Farb is a neuroscientist with a focus on interoception and Zindel Segal is a clinical psychologist who co-created the MBCT program. They are speaking about the power of being able to abide in our five senses as a basic need for health and well-being.
Have a read and be inspired to drop in to simple aliveness and presence in your day.
Our research suggests that it’s not sadness per se that leads to poor mental health, but shutting down input from the body. ‘Sense foraging’ offers a way out of the trap.“
Modern life seems designed to stop us from being alone with our thoughts and feelings. Our days are built from the bricks of work and play, mortared by media and intoxicants. It’s understandable: glimpses behind the curtain can be deeply uncomfortable. When we pause for a second, the mind too often gravitates towards our greatest sources of stress – be they troubled relationships or our own critical stories about ourselves. Scientists have even found that quite a few of us would rather give ourselves painful electrical shocks than wait in a distraction-free room for 15 minutes. Most people would agree that we need an occasional break from constant activity, but we seem unable to take advantage of our time off; rumination rushes in, spoiling what should be a period of respite. Distraction is one option – but why does taking time to “chill” now require Netflix?
And what if trying to busy yourself during those quiet moments did more harm than good? At this point, you may be thinking “Why not fill up my spare time with things I enjoy?” The problem is that keeping our brains busy isn’t an effective form of relief. Instead, sensing the world – the sunlight on your skin, a gurgle in your belly, the thump of your heartbeat – without rushing back into thought and judgment, is what enriches and restores us. Before you label that emotion that seems to be bubbling up, ask: what does it feel like? Because when we are unable to stay with raw sensation, defaulting instead to ideas about those sensations, it can actually have disastrous consequences for our mental health….. Read more in the Guardian….
And what if trying to busy yourself during those quiet moments did more harm than good? At this point, you may be thinking “Why not fill up my spare time with things I enjoy?” The problem is that keeping our brains busy isn’t an effective form of relief. Instead, sensing the world – the sunlight on your skin, a gurgle in your belly, the thump of your heartbeat – without rushing back into thought and judgment, is what enriches and restores us. Before you label that emotion that seems to be bubbling up, ask: what does it feel like? Because when we are unable to stay with raw sensation, defaulting instead to ideas about those sensations, it can actually have disastrous consequences for our mental health….. Read more in the Guardian….